ZECHARIAH 9-14: INTRODUCTION OF THE LITERARY ANALYSIS

A more complete version of this analysis is available to those requesting it at elmerphd21@hotmail.com.

Much less has been written about the literary structure of these last chapters of Zechariah than about (a) their history or (b) the structure of Zech. 1-8. Indeed, a overall negative opinion seems to prevail regarding all aspects of this so-called “Zechariah II.” Butterworth agrees with others that “the divisions are much less clear in the second part of the book of Zechariah,” but offers a detailed structural analysis nevertheless. This present post will attempt the same.

Two Oracles

A two-part structure for these chapters has been accepted for years with the two sections beginning at 9:1 and 12:1 using the same opening formula “An Oracle/Burden.” Ralph L. Smith notes that there are almost exactly the same number of verses in chs. 9-11 as in chs. 12-14, indicating the same intended two-part division. Further subdivisions have been carved out of these two sections by various commentators without any attempt to arrange these units into a symmetrical structure. The center section is set apart from most of the other material in Zech. 9-14 by its prosaic, rather than poetic, form.

The most elaborate attempt to reconstruct a symmetrical structure for these chapters comes from Baldwin, who discerns a complex arrangement (see Fig. 1) based on the generally accepted two-part division. This proposal has met with judgments such as Meyers and Meyers that such a treatment “surely overmanipulates the materials to achieve its purpose.”

Figure 1: Baldwin's Structure for Zechariah 9-14

I. Triumphant intervention of the LORD: His Shepherd Rejected (chs. 9-11)

a. LORD triumphs from the North (9:1-8)

b. arrival of the king (9:9-10)

c. jubilation and prosperity (9:11-10:1)

d. rebuke for sham leaders (10:2-3a)

c'. jubilation and restoration (10:3b-11:3)

b'. fate of the good shepherd (11:4-17)

II. Final intervention of the LORD and suffering involved (chs. 12-14)

c''. jubilation in Jerusalem (12:1-9)

b''. mourning for the pierced one (12:10-13:1)

d'. rejection of sham leaders (13:2-6)

b'''. shepherd slaughtered, people scattered (13:7-9)

c'''. cataclysm in Jerusalem (14:1-15)

a'. LORD is worshiped as King over all (14:16-21)

Although a fully developed literary structure for the whole of Zechariah II is never explicitly spelled out by Meyers and Meyers, there is the strong implication throughout their Anchor Bible commentary that it consists of two simple chiasms, as in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Twin Chiastic Structure for Zechariah 9-14

Oracle I

A. Chapter 9

B. Chapter 10

A'. Chapter 11

Oracle II

A. Chapter 12

B. Chapter 13

A'. Chapter 14

Overall Structure

To help resolve the question as to which structure best reflects that intended for Zech. 9-14, a study was conducted of key words and phrases repeated within these chapters The results echo the observation by Meyers and Meyers; namely, that there is a very high degree of cross referencing within Zechariah II. Another similarity between their study and the present one is that the largest number of parallels were found between chs. 9 and 14. Of seventy parallels examined, twenty involved passages in these two chapters (the next nearest pair had sixteen parallels in common). However, when these statistics were adjusted to take into account the sizes of the various chapters, a surprising change in the relative rankings appeared. The largest number of similarities, by a wide margin, now occurred between chs. 10 and 13 – the center sections of Oracles I and II, respectively (see Fig. 2).

When only the 27 most significant parallel passages were considered, those chapter pairs with the most similarities were found to be (in descending order): 9 & 14, 11 & 14, 9 & 12, 10 & 13, and 12 & 14. All of these observations are consistent with the slight variation on Fig. 2 given below as Fig. 3. Two titles have been given to each of the sections to better reflect the symmetries present in Zechariah II. The first title indicates the primary emphasis of that chapter within the same oracle while the second title reflects its correspondence with a section in the other oracle. Note the way in which this analysis bolsters the Gospel writers' contention that the images of the slain shepherd and the pierced one both refer to the coming Messiah.

Figure 3: Proposed Final Structure of Zechariah 9-14

Oracle I: Against the Nations

A. God restores the Davidic reign; destruction of Israel's enemies (ch. 9)

B. Return to the homeland; removal of false prophets (ch. 10)

A'. Worthless kings for Judah; the slain shepherd (ch. 11)

Oracle II: Concerning Israel

A''. God as a shield for Jerusalem; mourning for one they killed (ch. 12)

B'. Purification of Judah; removal of false prophets (ch. 13)

A'''. God fights for Jerusalem; destruction of Jerusalem's enemies (ch. 14)

Finally, it is only fair to take the same series of seventy internal cross references and test it against Baldwin's proposed structure for Zech. II using her unique divisions and groupings of passages. Without going into the details, the results of this analysis confirmed that the four “b” sections of Fig. 1 do have much in common with one another, although some of these parallels would also be expected based on the structure of Fig. 3. On the other hand, there was absolutely no support for the parallel nature of any of her four “c” units, or for the proposed correspondence between units d and d'.

All in all, the analysis shown in Fig. 3 should be treated as a good tentative structure which certainly demonstrates that Zechariah II possesses as much of a unified literary organization as does Zechariah I.